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In just two months, around 400 young skilled professionals from across Europe will gather in Graz, Austria to showcase their talents on an international stage as they compete to become the best of the best in their chosen skill at EuroSkills Graz 2021, from 22-26 September.

The young competitors will be joined by WorldSkills Europe Experts, trainers, sponsors, Member country delegations, and 450 volunteers, whose dedication, commitment, and support is invaluable in contributing to the successful hosting of the event.

To celebrate the 100 day countdown to the event, a press conference was held in June, live-streamed direct from the EuroSkills Graz 2021 venue, SFZ Center Graz, which featured interviews with Josef Herk, President of the Styrian Federal Economic Chamber, and Chairman of the Board, EuroSkills 2020 GmbH, and other key figures from Austrian government and industry.

Watch the press conference (presented in German).

Image: EuroSkills Graz 2021 Ambassadors, (left to right) Fabian Gwiggner, Lisa Janisch, Manfred Zink, Melanie Seidl, Birgit Haberschrick.

Throughout June and July 2021, members of the WorldSkills movement have been encouraging young people to share engaging, entertaining, and educational videos on TikTok and Instagram showcasing, teaching, and celebrating their skills.

The theme, created by WorldSkills International, supports World Youth Skills Day (WYSD) 2021, which took place on 15 July, with a global call to action for youth to share #WhatsYourSkill?

The campaign encourages conversations around skills that supports the United Nations WYSD 2021 Theme: Reimagining Youth Skills for the Present and Future.

• Celebrating resilience and innovation
• Digital skills and connectivity, creative and innovative thinking skills, skills for employability and resilience
• Partnerships for scaling up youth skills development

As part of the campaign, WorldSkills Europe launched its TikTok account @worldskillseurope on 5 July.

In a period marked by the postponement of face-to-face skills competitions at national and international level, WorldSkills named 2021 the Year of Innovation and called upon members of the movement to find new ways to showcase skills and offer young people and their trainers continued opportunities for development.

WorldSkills Portugal responded by developing the country’s first ever all-digital national skills competition ­– SkillsPortugal, Digital 2021.

Supported by national and worldwide reference partners in the digital area, including Microsoft, Amazon, CISCO, and Google, the virtual event welcomed 116 competitors, 105 Experts, 18 Chief Experts, and 47 education and training institutions from across the country to take part over the course of three weeks, between 21 June and 9 July 2021.

A total of 18 skills were represented, including: Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, Graphic Design, Digital Marketing, and 3D Modelling among others.

The achievements of all participants were celebrated at the end of the Competition during a virtual Closing Ceremony, where a total of 55 medals awarded to the highest scoring competitors.

Visit skillsportugaldigital.pt to find out more.

In support of World Youth Skills Day 2021 and as part of the Year of Innovation, WorldSkills Europe hosted an Online Skills Challenge in Graphic Design Technology on 14 July 2021. 

The Online Skills Challenge was created to enable young people and experts to compete, share, learn, and become prepared for EuroSkills and WorldSkills Competitions.

The event welcomed talented young graphic designers from nine WorldSkills Europe and WorldSkills International Member countries including: Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, and Russia.

Participants were given five hours to complete a test project which tasked them to create a mascot for a famous organisation that is one of the main partners of the WorldSkills movement, and also create a prototype of an interactive banner using XD software, incorporating the mascot, that would serve to promote future EuroSkills and WorldSkills Competitions.

Once the Challenge was complete, participants’ work was assessed by experts and judged according to criteria which examined ideas and originality, target market, relation to the organisation’s visual identity, quality of the composition, quality of the colour solution, quality of the typography, and quality of presentation of the digital mock-ups.

Each participant was awarded with a Certificate of Participation for completing the Challenge.

The Online Skills Challenge in Graphic Design Technology was developed in collaboration with WorldSkills Portugal’s Nuno Viana, who is the Graphic Design Technology Chief Expert for EuroSkills Graz 2021, and WorldSkills Russia’s Andrey Ermakov, who is the Graphic Design Technology Deputy Chief Expert for EuroSkills Graz 2021.

WorldSkills UK and WorldSkills Russia announced a partnership, the purpose of which is to raise standards in technical and vocational education both in the UK and Russia.

The partnership will leverage international policies and best practice in skills development which WorldSkills UK and WorldSkills Russia will share with their education and employer networks. 

This agreement is part of a programme launched by WorldSkills UK earlier this year, in which it announced it would be creating new and innovative ways for peer-to-peer knowledge exchange, that will enable WorldSkills and WorldSkills Europe members to drive excellence in the quality and delivery of TVET on a national and international scale. 

Dr Neil Bentley-Gockmann OBE, Chief Executive, WorldSkills UK said: “We are delighted to be working with Russia on this exciting new partnership.   

“WorldSkills standards have been central to the reform of TVET in Russia, informing assessments, qualifications and training for educators and the wider workforce.  This has seen the best international practices being used to raise standards and also generate energy and enthusiasm for the reforms.  We look forward to working together as we continue with our work with governments and educators to embed WorldSkills standards into UK skill systems to support young people to develop the high-quality skills needed by employers now and in the future.”

Robert Urazov, Director General of WorldSkills Russia said: “Over the years, WorldSkills Russia has created a large-scale network of experts and partners, whose best practices and means we are now happy to share with our foreign colleagues. Cooperation between WorldSkills Russia and WorldSkills UK will become an interaction between the two parties and a partnership of the networks that stand behind our organizations. We expect that our cooperation will be fruitful and applied, as a result of which we will be able to qualitatively improve our national training systems.”

WorldSkills International and WorldSkills Europe have welcomed this partnership describing it is a fantastic opportunity for members to work together to drive up excellence in the quality and delivery of TVET, supporting WorldSkills’ Year of Innovation in which it hopes to encourage more young people across the globe to take up skilled careers.     

This announcement follows the signing of partnerships between WorldSkills UK and WorldSkills Chinese Taipei, WorldSkills Korea and WorldSkills Japan.  WorldSkills UK plans to sign a partnership with WorldSkills France in the coming months.

Ben Blackledge, Deputy Chief Executive of WorldSkills UK, has been appointed as a Member of the WorldSkills Europe Board of Directors following a vote by Member countries at the WorldSkills Europe General Assembly 2021, which took place on 17 June 2021.

Currently the UK’s Technical Delegate for WorldSkills Europe and WorldSkills International, Ben is responsible for driving the WorldSkills UK programme of work both nationally and internationally. In partnership with representatives from government, industry, and education, Ben leads the UK-wide initiative to use international benchmarking and competition-based training programmes to help deliver quality improvement across skills systems in the UK.

Ben is also WorldSkills UK’s executive sponsor for diversity and inclusion, helping to ensure that young people from all walks of life are engaged in WorldSkills UK’s programmes and are encouraged to consider an apprenticeship or technical education as a route to success in work and life.

Prior to joining WorldSkills UK in 2014, Ben held several senior roles within the UK government, working extensively across both skills and careers policy. Ben is an independent member of Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s quality assurance committee and sits on the WorldSkills International Competition Working Group.

Commenting on his appointment, Ben Blackledge said: “I look forward to working with the Members to share and harness best practice in skills development. By working together, we can raise standards in higher technical education, supporting young people throughout Europe to develop the high-quality skills needed to boost the post-pandemic recovery.”

Ben Blackledge will join the WorldSkills Europe Board officially after EuroSkills Graz 2021, which takes place from 22-26 September 2021.

In support of the Year of Innovation, WorldSkills Europe has announced a new Online Skills Challenge in Graphic Design Technology. 

Open exclusively to WorldSkills Europe and WorldSkills Members, the Online Skills Challenge has been created for young people and experts to compete, share, learn, and become prepared for EuroSkills and WorldSkills Competitions.

The event takes place on Wednesday 14 July 2021. A pre-event briefing for Experts will take place on Monday 5 July 2021.

The Challenge has been developed in collaboration with WorldSkills Portugal’s Nuno Viana, who is the Graphic Design Technology Chief Expert for EuroSkills Graz 2021, and WorldSkills Russia’s Andrey Ermakov, who is the Graphic Design Technology Deputy Chief Expert for EuroSkills Graz 2021.

To register competitors to participate, WorldSkills/WorldSkills Europe Experts must contact WorldSkills Europe Competition and IT Coordinator, Jordy de Groot, Jordy.degroot[at]worldskillseurope.org by Friday 25 June 2021.

The European Commission is inviting participants to attend an online information session about the Erasmus+ funding opportunities available for the initiative on Centres of Vocational Excellence (CoVE).

The event takes place on 30 April from 09.30 to 12.30 CET.

At the event, information will be provided on how to prepare and submit project proposals, how the project evaluation process takes place, and all the funding aspects of Erasmus+ support. It is also an opportunity for participants to get advice on how to find partners on ideas for Vocational Excellence. The event will be opened by Commissioner Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights.

Visit the European Commission website to find out more.

About the Erasmus+ calls 2021

The Erasmus+ calls 2021 and the programme guide were published on 25 March 2021. The deadline for applications is 7 September 2021.

With a budget of 44 million EUR in 2021, this action supports the establishment and development of European platforms of Centres of Vocational Excellence, through international collaborative platforms, that contribute to regional development, innovation, and smart specialisation strategies, as well as to social inclusion.

Portuguese people are known as explorers and as people that never say no to a challenge. So when WorldSkills named 2021 the Year of Innovation, WorldSkills Portugal responded by developing the country’s first ever “all-digital, all-virtual” national skills competition ­– SkillsPortugal, Digital 2021.

Supported by national and worldwide reference partners in the digital area, including Microsoft, Amazon, CISCO, and Google, SkillsPortugal, Digital 2021 will see around 150 competitors, aged between 16 and 35, exercising their digital competences in 18 skills.
 
The aim of the event is to offer young people and their trainers continued opportunities for development, to create awareness about the importance of qualifications in the digital area, and to give shape to the European and National guidelines regarding digital education and training.
 
SkillsPortugal, Digital 2021 has been developed completely digitally and will take place virtually between 21 June and 9 July 2021.
 
Find out more on the WorldSkills Portugal website

The Schwarzl Freizeitzentrum Center, situated beside Lake Schwarzl See, is a spacious venue covering 70,000 square metres which is comprised of two large event halls and an open-air space. The layout and flexible infrastructure of the venue make it an ideal location for a EuroSkills event.

Alongside the open-air space, which will be fitted with large-scale tents, both halls – Premstätten-Halle and Davis-Cup-Halle – will be used for the Competition.

The EuroSkills Graz 2021 Organising Team is working on a comprehensive COVID-19 prevention concept in line with the public authorities of Austria. The concept is constantly being revised and adapted to meet the respective current regulations.

EuroSkills Graz 2021 is scheduled to take place from 22-26 September 2021.

Visit www.euroskills2021.com for the latest information.

Image credit: Leutgeb Entertainment Group. (Photo taken prior to COVID-19 outbreak)